


Closure

by boneandfur (whiskeyneat)



Category: Choices Pixelberry, Choices the stories you play - Fandom, Pixelberry, The Royal Romance (Visual Novel)
Genre: AU, Angst, Cynical, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 08:20:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13830207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiskeyneat/pseuds/boneandfur
Summary: Life in Cordonia isn't a fairy tale. King Liam seeks closure, seven years after MC elopes with Maxwell and House Beaumont returns from exile.





	Closure

==from Angst/Fluff Prompt #8, "I'm never letting you go".

 

 **Note:** This was supposed to be Liam finding happiness again after Lilly (MC) elopes with Maxwell. It didn't exactly go as planned. Get ready for the angst. This is a rather dark and cynical AU. 

* * *

 

 

Liam wonders when he will ever be free of it. Seven years have passed and Lady Beaumont, Duchess of Ducatoria, has returned to court, and yet he still cannot look her in the eye without remembering the girl she'd been so many years ago.

 

_It's like something out of a fairy tale... Lady Jones of New York City... Liam, do you remember me?_

 

He remembers: all the little things. How she bites her nails or twists her hair when she's nervous. The wrinkle she gets in the middle of her nose when she's trying not to laugh. Her scent, a cloud of lemony vanilla that would linger on his skin long after she had rolled out of his arms (and into Drake's -- but he doesn't like to think about that). They have all but faded, yet his heart still catches him at odd times and reminds him. 

 

 _Lilly_. Slender as ever, though the rumors say she's had six children in these seven years, and beside her stands a wide-eyed child with a dark braid and a green dress, taking in all the opulence of court as if for the first time. It _is_ her first time, Liam reminds himself. 

 

He kneels down in the receiving line,  ignoring the stares, and takes the child's hand, pressing a kiss to it. Her eyes flare wide and she smiles radiantly. She looks more like her mother than her father, hanging back, the stain of his exile still upon him. Maxwell Beaumont will not be forgiven by the court as easily as he craves. Liam has made sure of that. 

 

But Lilly... He feels her eyes upon him, and lifts his own to see tears sparkling on her dark lashes. The woman who was to be his queen. "Hello," he says to the child. This could have been _his_ child. It might even _be_ his child ... but he'll never know. 

 

He and his queen have never had children. They keep separate quarters, she has her mistress and he has his. His brother's child will be ruler of Cordonia after him, and that is fine by Liam -- but sometimes he dreams, and this child in front of him breaks his heart in more ways than she could ever know. 

 

"Are you the _king_?" The girl asks in awe. Her eyes are a brilliant blue, Beaumont blue, like the Aegean on a summer's day. 

 

Liam chuckles. "I am," he says. "And who might I be making the acquaintance of?"

 

She looks quickly up at her mother, then returns her attention back to Liam. "Lady Sophronia Jones Beaumont. But everyone calls me Sophy." 

 

"It is a delight to meet you, Sophy. I hope we shall be friends." 

 

"Oh, yes!" Sophy cries, clapping her hands. Then she leans in, and asks, "But your majesty, do you have a little girl for me to play with and be my friend too?" 

 

Liam smiles, suddenly feeling the weight of the years upon him. "I have it on good authority that there is a little _boy_ to play with, here, in this very room." 

 

Sophy taps her lips, so like her mother in that single gesture that an icicle lodges in his heart. "Boys are icky." She wrinkles her nose. 

 

The peal of Lilly's laughter rings out, startling him. Liam stands up slowly, Sophy's hand still in his. "Sophy, go and play." 

 

"But Mummy..." Sophy whines. Seeing that she isn't going to get anywhere with it, Sophy drops a sulky curtsey and heads towards the buffet, where a platter of sugar mice wait to be stolen by children since time immemorial. 

 

Liam holds out his hand as though Lilly is a stranger. He is shaking. Funny how she still has this power over him, though he has not seen her since the night before she eloped with Beaumont. 

 

_I'm so sorry, but... Vegas.... Eloping... So unexpected... Please try to be happy without me._

 

 _"_ Lilly." Liam clears his throat. She surprises him by flinging her arms around him, the hug knocking his breath away. She smells the same: lemon, vanilla. He steps back, creating a respectable distance between himself and the woman who still holds his heart (yes -- after all this time). "Welcome back to court." 

 

"Liam." Her voice is warm, her eyes, shining. She drops a curtsey. Her dress is green, some fools might think to match her daughter's, but Liam knows that this particular green dress holds a deeper meaning for the two of them. Why she wears it this night, he can only theorize -- House Beaumont plays a deep game, and it is known in certain circles that he has tired of his latest mistress. For House Beaumont to offer up their own contender is not unheard of, after all, with so many mouths to feed, it's no surprise they cannot maintain an extravagant lifestyle without royal patronage. 

 

Cynically, he thinks they could not have picked a better candidate. 

 

What can he say, except everything and nothing? All that there was, and all that there is, have meant nothing until Lilly returned to court. Colors have come back to Cordonia with her presence. The world is no longer flat and gray. "Lilly.... Lady Beaumont. You look... Stunning." 

 

And she does. Perhaps not as ripe with possibility as she'd been on that night in New York, but still a deeply beautiful woman for all of that. 

 

"Liam." Olivia clears her throat. He is not the only one missing someone tonight. "Why, Lady Beaumont! I didn't recognize you! Taken a break from overpopulating the earth, I see." 

 

Lilly frowns. Her eyes flash dangerously. "Olivia." 

 

She steps aside, allowing her husband to advance in the line, but Liam walks away from the outstretched hand of his first friend, the man who stole the love of his life, and he hears the court buzzing around him. His queen, always so gracious and courtly(after all, she was bred for exactly this) grasps at his sleeve, in her eyes a warning, but he shakes her off. 

 

The ball begins, but Liam is only going through the motions. How could he have thought that welcoming House Beaumont back to court was a good thing? He looks up to find Olivia at his elbow. She looks fragile tonight, and he makes room for her to sit down next to him. 

 

Drake is loitering at the back wall, a King's Guard now, scanning the room with a whiskey in his hand and a lissome young girl giggling in his ear. Olivia pales at that, but retains her composure. Her son is playing with Sophy Beaumont, now _that_ was a scandal when it broke, the heiress to House Nevrakis pregnant, and no husband in sight. Liam has never asked, but he can still see the pain in her eyes whenever she looks at Drake, and wonders. 

 

Drake... Drake never got over Lilly. He's been married twice already, once to a waitress he met at a bar in Krona, once to a member of a lesser house, hangers on to the greater court. Both marriages fizzled out within a year each -- the waitress never fit in at court and left him for anther man; the debutante cited "irreconcilable differences" and immediately made a play for Liam before the ink had dried on the divorce papers. Both of them looked like Lilly -- dark hair, blue eyes, heart-shaped faces -- but he could never fool himself in the dark the way that Drake did. 

 

"Why don't you talk to him?" Liam catches Olivia shooting another look at Drake, so raw and filled with sorrow that his heart turns over in his chest for her. "At least you'd have some closure."

 

"Oh, and you're one to talk?" Olivia sneers. "'Mr I Invited My Ex Back to Court And Can't Look At Her'?" She picks a loose thread on her sleeve. "He won't talk to _me_ , Liam."

 

"But what about...?" Liam nods to her son. 

 

She shakes her head. "Jack thinks of _you_ as his father, and you know Drake believes it too. Jack couldn't have a better father figure in his life than you, Liam." 

 

Liam exhales. He touches her arm, and she smiles at him. He couldn't have asked for a better friend. "He is lucky in his mother, as well." They share a private smile. "Olivia, are you happy?"

 

"I have Jack, what do I have to be sad about?" she asks, but her eyes are far away and she is glancing at Drake again, who has by now pulled the girl into his lap. She may be trying to convince herself, but it doesn't fool Liam, who knows her best. "Now go and talk to her please, for you'll never forgive yourself if you don't. I'm sick of your moping, it's contagious." 

 

* * *

 

 

Liam crosses the room. "May I cut in?" 

 

Maxwell starts to protest, but Lilly silences him. She moves effortlessly into Liam's arms, which shouldn't surprise him. She's had her legs wrapped around all of them at one time or another, after all. "King Liam," she whispers throatily. He is too old to play this game, and yet... And yet... He cannot resist her. 

 

His _body_ remembers what his mind wants to push away. The silken wetness of her mouth, the sensation of her velvety skin moving under his. His hands tighten on her hips, and she smiles blithely up at him. 

 

"You don't look a day older than when we met," she whispers. 

 

"Isn't that _my_ line?" Liam teases, eliciting a small laugh from her, and his heart quickens with joy. "Lady Lilly... Lilly." Liam swallows. Her body has moved closer to his, and he knows she can feel how hard he is, because she gives him a frank, sensuous look from under her lashes. 

 

"Is there a place we can go to be alone, Liam?" She can't be serious... can she? Liam looks at Maxwell over the heads of the swaying dancers. He is standing on the sidelines with his arms crossed, looking pensive, until his brother comes up beside him, clapping him on the shoulder and gesturing at Lilly with words Liam cannot make out. Maxwell's shoulders slump, a man defeated. "Liam?" Lilly's tone is lightly teasing. "Is the treehouse still there?" 

 

Liam makes up his mind in that instant. "Come on." And under the watchful gaze of the Beaumont Brothers, he takes Maxwell's wife into the hedge maze. 

 

* * *

 

 

Lady Lilly is just as willing to wrap her legs around him as she ever was. As soon as they reach the treehouse, she pulls him to her hungrily, wrapping her arms around his neck. Her kiss is like all the stars are falling. Liam pushes her against the tree, pulling up her skirts, poising himself to thrust into her, when he hears Maxwell in the maze, calling for her. _Lilly... Lilly..._

 

 _"_ I'll never let you go," Liam whispers into her hair, and then he untangles himself from her, plucking the greenery from her hair, her face a mix of hurt and bewilderment as she looks up at him. "Goodbye, Lilly." 

 

He walks away, past Maxwell, whose eyes are wet with tears in the moonlight. His shoes crunch on the gravel as he approaches the palace. Olivia, who has been sitting on the balcony, turns and looks at him, a question in her eyes. Liam doesn't have the answers. But it is enough.

 

 


End file.
